The writer now draws the explicit parallel with the Israelites who died in the desert. They heard the word, but did not obey the word. So hearing on its own is not enough, we need to believe the word. Belief is not just a mere intellectual or emotional response, true faith is demonstrated by the fact that it leads to obedience.
If we believe then we do enter into God's rest. We enter into right relationship with Him, and it starts to affect our whole life. But we cannot enter His rest without faith.
God's work was finished on the seventh day. Now we need to be careful how we read this, for it does not mean that God has been sitting around twiddling His thumbs for thousands or billions of years! Indeed in Christ He completed the work of salvation. But the rest we are to enter is not something we need to create, for it has been ready since God completed creation. We do not need to make something, rather we need to enter His rest.
In life we encounter all sorts of problems and go through various agonies. In the midst of them we think we have to create something, but the truth is that the solution is already there. We need only to enter into relationship with God.
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